


Cosmic Child

by MarvelAims (aimzzz)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, References to Drugs, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-01-17 11:41:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12364992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimzzz/pseuds/MarvelAims
Summary: Maria looked at her son after he had been cleaned up by the nurses, stars speckled across his face as small as freckles. "Should we notify your husband of the birth Mrs Stark?" She couldn't take her eyes of her son, his dark hair making the little white stars sprinkled across his face even more prominent. She shook her head, a small pang in her heart that Howard wasn’t there to see his new son, "No he's in the arctic at the moment, you won't be able to reach him, just leave him a voicemail. Has his mark been registered?" The nurse quickly nodded and Maria spoke softly into her son's ear, as she ran her fingers through her son’s hair "You have been gifted to me from the universe, my cosmic child". One of the younger nurses who seemingly didn’t care that it wasn’t polite to comment on other people’s soul marks, gestured to Tony’s soul mark and said softly so not to wake the baby “You have a gift from the universe there, Mrs Stark.”





	1. Chapter 1

Maria looked at her son after he had been cleaned up by the nurses, stars speckled across his face as small as freckles. "Should we notify your husband of the birth Mrs Stark?" She couldn't take her eyes of her son, his dark hair making the little white stars sprinkled across his face even more prominent. She shook her head, a small pang in her heart that Howard wasn’t there to see his new son, "No he's in the arctic at the moment, you won't be able to reach him, just leave him a voicemail. Has his mark been registered?" The nurse quickly nodded and Maria spoke softly into her son's ear, as she ran her fingers through her son’s hair "You have been gifted to me from the universe, my cosmic child". One of the younger nurses who seemingly didn’t care that it wasn’t polite to comment on other people’s soul marks, gestured to Tony’s soul mark and said softly so not to wake the baby “You have a gift from the universe there, Mrs Stark.” Maria Stark gazed down at the baby that was cradled in her arms, the universe painted across his cheeks and just nodded, tears filling her eyes.

Maria took the first picture of her son, when he was 3 months old and Howard was still in the Arctic, he had filled the nursery with everything needed for a baby over the phone, and had said to Maria “I’m proud of you Mar, I love you but I have to go, congratulations on our son.” 3 months had passed when Maria had finally decided that Howard at least needed to see his son before he came home, So Maria gave Tony a little photoshoot, putting him in little suits and T-shirts that said ‘My little star’ and sent them express to Howard. What Maria didn’t expect however, was the phone call from Howard two days later and Howard was panicked “Maria, I’m sending you make-up supplies, you need to start covering up Tony’s soul mark, I know who his soulmate is.”

Maria was stunned and then near enough screamed down the phone in excitement down the phone, maybe Tony could have one of those childhood soulmates where they grow up and fall in love through ages “Who?!” and there was a silence at the other end of the phone and Howards voice would echo in Maria’s ears for years after “Bucky Barnes.” Maria turned her head and saw her little boy playing with a rocket and suddenly she saw a boy, who’s soulmate was dead, and tears filled her eyes. From then on, space wasn’t mentioned, the galaxy room that Maria had lovingly got painted when she saw her son’s soul mark, had been painted over and costume makeup was painted on Tony’s face because the media would have a field day if they saw that the Stark heir was marked to a dead man who would only meet his soulmate in the afterlife.

It started to rip and shred at Maria that her son was fated to a dead man, she couldn’t sleep she couldn’t eat, she almost wasn’t living and only was able to make basic choices for Tony until Howard called one day and said “Maria, I love you and when I find Steve it will all be better I swear, go to the doctor see what they say, I’ll be home soon I swear.”

Tony was five when Maria began to take pills with her dinner, constantly scratching at the gears that littered her arms which matched Howard’s. She’d smile at Tony but it would never reach her eyes, seeing a smudge of makeup which would peak through the makeup smeared across Tony’s cheeks. She’d take two or three at dinner, just her and Tony on a table that could fit at least 30 on, the empty chair at the other end of the table constantly, both her and Tony had lost their soulmates in their own way, Tony’s had died and her soulmate loved a dead man. So her doctor prescribed her with pills to let her sleep and she began to paint the gears on her arm with the same makeup that she painted Tony’s face with. Tony would giggle, “We match now mom!” and Maria would paint a smile on her face that was as fake as clear skin she pretended Tony had on his face “We sure do Anthony.”

Tony was 16 and in MIT surrounded by pizza boxes and beer cans when he received a phone call from his father saying Maria had overdosed again for the third time “Anthony, I can’t get back until next week will you go to the house and see if she needs anything” and even though Tony hadn’t even said anything Howard then raised his voice and growled “and for god’s sake try and cover your face from the media we don’t need this shit coming out as well.” Howard hung up, the dial tone echoing in Tony’s ear and Tony walked up to the mirror; the universe still scattered amongst his cheeks and picked up the paint and threw it against the wall. “So what if I’m fated to a dead man Dummy?” Tony said to the robot that was charging in the corner of his room “Why should I have to cover myself up? cover my soul up for the sake of other people, it’s so fucking unfair.” As he mumbled he picked up the makeup, plastered it all over his face and went over to the house.

He opened the door and turned into the main front room, used for guests, and Tony had never been allowed in there as a child ‘To much in there for you to break Anthony’ Maria would say and had a huge portrait of Maria and Howard on their wedding day, the gears on both of their arms out proud, Maria’s smile beaming through the picture her stomach barely showing, only slightly bulging from the baby that was inside of her. Beneath the floor length portrait sat Maria, fully made up, her hair tied up in a tight bun and her eyes glazed over, looking at her arm, the gears faded from years of being scratched and painted over.

 “Mom?” Tony whispered and knelt next to Maria when he got no response and lightly touched her shoulder which seemed to jolt her out of a dream, but from the glaze in her eyes and the genuine smile on her face, Tony knew she was still very out of it. “Hello my cosmic boy, my universe, why have you got that stuff on your face for? You know you should be proud.” Maria licked her thumb and began to rub away at Tony’s face “You see Anthony, your soulmate is gone, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find love, I mean I am your father’s soulmate” Maria gestured to herself wildly “and your father has been in love with a dead man ever since I met him.” Tears began to fill her eyes, her hands shaking and Tony could do nothing and so he pulled his mom into his arms and couldn’t think of anything to say other than “I love you mom. I’m sorry Dad is like this, I’m sorry.” They sat in that cold living room until Maria fell asleep and Tony half-carried half dragged her to her room, and took the pills that were littered on her desk next to a portrait of Tony looking into a telescope, and flushed them down the toilet. Tony tucked Maria in, flicked off the light and stared into the dark room and whispered “Goodnight, mom.”


	2. Wishes

Tony left Howard a voicemail in the morning “Howard” Tony started as he looked at the whiteboard which had different equations for different projects scribbled on it with permanent marker, which was pinned to the wall, Tony absentmindedly corrected one of the equations whilst continuing, “I put mom to bed last night, took all the pills from her bedroom and told Jarvis to check in on her in the morning and before you ask, yes I covered myself up, don’t worry no one knows about your son’s dirty secret. Check in on her Howard, she knows she doesn’t mean anything to you and before you try and lie, you and I both know that’s true but the least you could do is call her occasionally. Bye”. Tony looked at his schedule that was slightly scrunched up and coffee stained and saw he had two lectures today in the morning, and he sighed and grabbed the make-up to cover up his bared soul and begun his day. He rolled down the blinds, drew the curtains and had a shower, scrubbing every part of his body that had touched his mom the night before. He dressed, and sat in front of the mirror, and grabbed his brushes and began painting over his soul once more.

Tony met Rhodey that day in advanced aero engineering “Hi, I’m James and you have a smudge of oil right across your nose” after James had gestured at Tony’s face, Tony had quickly ran to the bathroom and came back with his face fully cleaned and then painted on once more, Tony said “What’s your surname James?” Rhodey answered confusedly “Rhodes?” “Okay, well I’m going to call you Rhodey, I like the name Rhodey, better than James, James is too boring, Too many James’s I think -----“Tony kept talking, his hand gestures getting more and more wild as he continued and Rhodey’s eyes widened and a little smile appeared on his face.

Rhodey interrupted Tony by blurting out “Did you make that robot?” Rhodey gestured to the robot which trailed after tony, four little wheels attached to a slab of metal, that had a large claw attached. A coffee held tightly in the robots claw and at the second Rhodey pointed at the robot, the robot dropped the coffee, and waved the claw, almost as if the robot was excited Rhodey noted, but that was impossible, because that level of artificial intelligence hadn’t even begun to be made yet. “Dummy, am I really going to give you lessons on when to keep a hold of things again? I thought we had got past that in your coding” Tony pouted as he went into his bag, ripped a few pages which had scribbled maths sums all over them and began to mop up the coffee all over the floor. The man looked up at Rhodey “But yeah he’s mine, he’s like my baby, I worked out his coding after I’d been awake for 3 days, and had nothing but coffee and energy drinks in me, so if you want to create a mess like him, who drops coffee everywhere then that’s the recipe” Tony smiled, the coffee leaving the paper and Tony’s hands brown. “Anyway” Tony wiped his hands on his jeans “Pleased to meet you Rhodey” and Rhodey couldn’t help but smile back “Pleased to meet you Tony”.

They were inseparable ever since, one couldn’t be seen without the other and so when the news began to speculate that the trainee air force pilot and the next CEO of a weapons empire were soulmates, everyone believed it. Tony had to make a statement on CNN after they had tracked down Rhodey’s parents and it had been aired consistently around the world. “James Rhodes is not my soulmate, so I would hope that the media and public would give him and his family the respect that they deserve by letting them live the private life that they deserve, thank you.” The quote had been printed in every newspaper article and Rhodey and Tony would eat their dinner of speculative magazines claiming Tony was lying. Tony would apologise everytime they found Rhodey's family and plastered their faces all over the news, but Rhodey didn't care in the slightest. He had explained how much Tony meant, to his family and they were so smitten with him, that they didn't care

The house grew more tidy and Rhodey became a permanent fixture in the apartment. He would chase after dummy, clean up after an all-nighter, and listen to Tony’s theories late into the night. So it made sense that the first person to see Tony’s mark was Rhodey, and when he saw the mark he couldn’t help but stare because it was all over Tony’s face, the darkness of space and the brightness of the solar system was mapped on Tony’s cheeks and the bridge of his nose, was so accurate that Rhodey felt as if he was looking at a map of the stars. “Tony” Rhodey whispered “Your soul mark…” and Tony who had grown so comfortable around Rhodey hadn’t even thought about covering up around him, froze and looked in Rhodey’s eyes, noticing the gears scattered down Rhodey’s neck, and fear struck once more in Tony’s heart. ‘What if Rhodey was all this time, part of the press and are going to expose me? Dad is going to kill me’ Tony thought. “Tony it’s incredible, its matches our solar system exactly, that’s incredible” Rhodey said with his eyes lit with wonder “you are so lucky Tony, that’s a beautiful mark to have.” Tony coughed and smiled at him, “Well I’m not as cool as the android you are going to fall in love with” Rhodey snorted and that was that. They didn’t discuss who they had as soulmates until years later, when the heat of the desert baked on their backs as they hugged for the first time after months of torture.


	3. The Ten rings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a filler because fuck knows I need to get this story moving before I implode :) xx

When Tony announced he was iron man to the world, he had almost bared his entire soul. Who he was now, in his mind was the solid metal armour. He didn’t want to hide more than he already had to from the media. He was already petrified that his desert torturers would spill the secret which he has concealed for so long, they called him galaxy boy as they dunked his head in the ice-cold water again, the laughs echoing in his ears as he was forcibly dunked into the abyss again. When Rhodey saw Tony almost delirious from heat exhaustion and the galaxies smeared over his face, Tony buried his face in Rhodey’s shoulder and Rhodey kept him there until he could be moved into a car with tinted windows.

“I am Iron man” Tony said, the words echoing all around the hall and there was a brief silence where mouths were dropped and then the clicking and the flashing started and later Tony would swear he could see those flashes in the back of his eyes for weeks afterwards. However, he wouldn’t complain because the lights of the media drew away from what had happened in Afghanistan. For a moment, he could forget what had happened, his face was plastered all over the news as a hero, as someone who didn’t just manufacture weapons but a saviour of lives.

“Breaking news! Iron Man has been revealed! the masked hero who has been putting a severe dent in the ten rings group, who are a leading terrorist group stationed in Afghanistan from decimating civilians who are trying to flee from war. Tony Stark announced in his press conference marking his return from the war-torn country, that he in fact is the hero saving millions now to Carl with the sport…”

“@starkkill: He could be the president of the universe, he’s still a merchant of death idec”

“@JenHam: if anyone could save the world should it really be a man who doesn’t even have a soulmate to ground him just saying :/”

“@Walhuji: wow Tony Stark using his money for the greater good who’d have thought”

Within the first couple of days, Tony couldn’t escape the media buzz and he enjoyed it, it kept him busy it kept his hands steady and his smile only half fake. Him, dashing around in his fast cars trying to avoid the media became his escape and alcohol became his night nurse. Before Ten rings, it was a glass before bed and now it was at least 8. Rhodey would call, and Tony had only answered the once, he had woken up in darkness, his hands shaking and his heart pumping faster and faster every second and on the light up display he had seen Rhodey calling and before the rational side of his brain could stop him, he answered and almost in tears said “Hey, honey bear” and Rhodey had booked Tony in for some group sessions with this guy called Sam. “He’s good Tony, he’s lost and fought so he’s get it.”

Tony never went. Rhodey only found out when when Tony took a piss in his iron man suit on his birthday and had a bottle of brandy in his arms, and Rhodey kindly said “Shall I call Sam?” and Tony started laughing his hand rubbing at the makeup on his face smudges of blue and purple beginning to seep through. “You really think” Tony hiccupped “That if I was in therapy I would look like this?” Some blue Tetris-like lines peeking through on Tony’s neck and the glazed look in his eyes, triggered Rhodey to do something his Mama told him never to do. He stole. He stole the chrome suit and flew away, because how was he supposed to fix something which was shattered and seemingly beyond repair?


End file.
